Metadata brokering server and methods

ABSTRACT

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide methods and systems for supplying rich multimedia metadata usable to generate, e.g., sophisticated entertainment user interfaces in the home. These methods and systems can be implemented as a server-based software application that feeds multiple, diverse clients. The server functionality could be distributed, even co-located physically with one or more clients, or centralized. The server aggregates, filters, validates, augments and links metadata from disparate sources. The server transforms the metadata into a more manageable and extensible internal format. The server communicates with client devices using a schema-independent protocol, providing metadata in the appropriate format that suites the clients needs.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/626,200, filed Feb. 19, 2015, entitled “Metadata Brokering Server andMethods”, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/847,114, filed on Mar. 19, 2013, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/436,954, filed on Apr. 1, 2012, now U.S.Pat. No. 8,412,748 which issued on Apr. 2, 2013, which is a continuationof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/371,687, filed Feb. 16, 2009, nowU.S. Pat. No. 8,161,082 which issued on Apr. 17, 2012, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/037,897, filed Jan.18, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,493,341 which issued on Feb. 17, 2009,which is related to, and claims priority from, U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 60/536,937, filed on Jan. 16, 2004, entitled“Metadata Brokering Server”, the disclosure of which is incorporatedhere by reference.

BACKGROUND

The present invention describes systems and methods for supplyingmultimedia metadata usable to create, for example, sophisticatedentertainment user interfaces in the home.

Technologies associated with the communication of information haveevolved rapidly over the last several decades. Television, cellulartelephony, the Internet and optical communication techniques (to namejust a few things) combine to inundate consumers with availableinformation and entertainment options. Taking television as an example,the last three decades have seen the introduction of cable televisionservice, satellite television service, pay-per-view movies andvideo-on-demand. Whereas television viewers of the 1960s could typicallyreceive perhaps four or five over-the-air TV channels on theirtelevision sets, today's TV watchers have the opportunity to select fromhundreds and potentially thousands of channels of shows and information.Video-on-demand technology, currently used primarily in hotels and thelike, provides the potential for in-home entertainment selection fromamong thousands of movie titles. Digital video recording (DVR) equipmentsuch as offered by TiVo, Inc., 2160 Gold Street, Alviso, Calif. 95002,further expand the available choices.

The technological ability to provide so much information and content toend users provides both opportunities and challenges to system designersand service providers. One challenge is that while end users typicallyprefer having more choices rather than fewer, this preference iscounterweighted by their desire that the selection process be both fastand simple. Unfortunately, the development of the systems and interfacesby which end users access media items has resulted in selectionprocesses which are neither fast nor simple. Consider again the exampleof television programs. When television was in its infancy, determiningwhich program to watch was a relatively simple process primarily due tothe small number of choices. One would consult a printed guide which wasformatted, for example, as series of columns and rows which showed thecorrespondence between (1) nearby television channels, (2) programsbeing transmitted on those channels and (3) date and time. Thetelevision was tuned to the desired channel by adjusting a tuner knoband the viewer watched the selected program. Later, remote controldevices were introduced that permitted viewers to tune the televisionfrom a distance. This addition to the user-television interface createdthe phenomenon known as “channel surfing” whereby a viewer could rapidlyview short segments being broadcast on a number of channels to quicklylearn what programs were available at any given time.

Despite the fact that the number of channels and amount of viewablecontent has dramatically increased, the generally available userinterface and control device options and frameworks for televisions havenot changed much over the last 30 years. Printed guides are still themost prevalent mechanism for conveying programming information. Themultiple button remote control with simple up and down arrows is stillthe most prevalent channel/content selection mechanism. The reaction ofthose who design and implement the TV user interface to the increase inavailable media content has been a straightforward extension of theexisting selection procedures and interface objects. Thus, the number ofrows and columns in the printed guides has been increased to accommodatemore channels. The number of buttons on the remote control devices hasbeen increased to support additional functionality and content handling.However, this approach has significantly increased both the timerequired for a viewer to review the available information and thecomplexity of actions required to implement a selection. Arguably, thecumbersome nature of the existing interface has hampered commercialimplementation of some services, e.g., video-on-demand, since consumersare resistant to new services that will add complexity to an interfacethat they view as already too slow and complex.

An exemplary control framework having a zoomable graphical userinterface for organizing, selecting and launching media items isdescribed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/768,432, filed on Jan.30, 2004, to Frank A. Hunleth, the disclosure of which is incorporatedhere by reference. This framework provides exemplary solutions to theafore-described problems of conventional interfaces. Among other things,such exemplary frameworks provide mechanisms which display metadataassociated with media items available for selection by a user in amanner which is easy-to-use, but allows a large number of differentmedia items to be accessible.

The creation of these types of advanced user interfaces is hamstrung bythe type and availability of rich metadata that describes the content.The term “metadata” as it is used herein refers to all of thesupplementary information that describes the particular content ofinterest associated with media items available for selection by a user.As an example for movies, the metadata could include, e.g., the title,description, genre, cast, DVD cover art, price/availability, and rightsassociated with the content among others. Beyond this it could includecast bios and filmographies, links to similar movies, critical reviews,user reviews, and the rights associated with the metadata itself. Itcould also include advertising metadata that is linked to the content ofinterest. However these types of metadata are not currently availablefor use in generating user interfaces for several reasons. First, theuniverse of service providers that offer metadata is fragmented withvarious vendors supplying only a limited subset of the metadatainformation and usually in proprietary form. Second, to utilize thesetypes of metadata would require sophisticated software processing thatlinks the disparate pieces of metadata into a unifying set that is easyto consume by, for example, typically lower-end client devices in thehome (e.g., set-top boxes). This type of sophisticated softwareprocessing has not yet been realized.

Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide metadata brokering serversand methods which enable the capturing, processing, synthesizing andforwarding of metadata suitable to enable advanced user interfaces to begenerated.

SUMMARY

Systems and methods according to the present invention address theseneeds and others by providing rich multimedia metadata usable togenerate, e.g., sophisticated entertainment user interfaces in the home.These methods and systems can be implemented as a server-based softwareapplication that feeds multiple, diverse clients. The serverfunctionality could be distributed, even co-located physically with oneor more clients, or centralized. The server aggregates, filters,validates, augments and links metadata from disparate sources. Theserver transforms the metadata into a more manageable and extensibleinternal format. The server communicates with client devices using aschema-independent protocol, providing metadata in the appropriateformat that suites the clients needs.

According to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a methodfor processing metadata information includes the steps of capturingmetadata information from a plurality of different media sources,creating links between the captured metadata information, building aplurality of screen templates using at least one of the capturedmetadata and the links and distributing processed metadata including atleast one of the plurality of screen templates, the links and themetadata to a plurality of different client devices.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, amethod for processing metadata associated with media items includes thesteps of receiving metadata from at least two sources, processing saidreceived metadata to generate processed metadata and distributing saidprocessed metadata.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, wherein:

FIG. 1 depicts a screen of a user interface which can be generated usingmetadata processed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 depicts another screen of a user interface which can be generatedusing metadata processed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a table showing exemplary metadata types and sources;

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary processing scheme for metadata according toexemplary embodiments of the present invention;

FIGS. 5, 5A and 5B show metadata sets being processed in accordance withan exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate an exemplary screen composition generatedaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary architecture for metadata brokeringaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 8, 8A and 8B show a portion of the exemplary architecture of FIG.7 in more detail; and

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method for processingmetadata in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description of the invention refers to theaccompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawingsidentify the same or similar elements. Also, the following detaileddescription does not limit the invention. Instead, the scope of theinvention is defined by the appended claims.

In order to provide some context for this discussion, an exemplary userinterface screen which can be created using metadata brokered inaccordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention is shownin FIG. 1. Therein, a portion of a user interface screen has beenmagnified to show ten media selection items in more detail. For moreinformation regarding this purely exemplary interface, includingprevious screens and navigation techniques, the interested reader isdirected to the above-incorporated by reference U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/768,432. However for the purposes of this specification, itis primarily useful to see an exemplary end result of metadataprocessing in accordance with the present invention.

Therein, the image associated with the media selection item for themovie “Apollo 13” has been magnified by, e.g., passing a cursor (notshown) over this image. Some metadata, e.g., the movie title and arepresentative image, can be used to generate this interface screen. Atlower levels of the selection process, more metadata can be used. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 2, user selection of this magnified image,e.g., by depressing a button on an input device (not shown), can resultin a further zoom to display additional details. For example,information about the movie “Apollo 13” including, among other things,the movie's runtime, price and actor information is shown. Those skilledin the art will appreciate that other types of information could beprovided here. Additionally, this GUI screen includes GUI controlobjects including, for example, button control objects for buying themovie, watching a trailer or returning to the previous GUI screen (whichcould also be accomplished by depressing the ZOOM OUT button on theinput device). Hyperlinks generated from metadata processed in a mannerdescribed below can also be used to allow the user to jump to, forexample, GUI screens associated with the related movies identified inthe lower right hand corner of the GUI screen of FIG. 20 or informationassociated with the actors in this movie. In this example, some or allof the film titles under the heading “Filmography” can be implemented ashyperlinks which, when actuated by the user via the input device, willcause the GUI to display a GUI screen corresponding to that of FIG. 2for the indicated movie. Some or all of the information used to generatethe interface screens of FIGS. 1 and 2 comes from metadata provided byone or more metadata providers and processed in accordance withexemplary embodiments of the present invention as will now be described.

The interface screens shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are purely exemplary andmetadata processed in accordance with the present invention can be usedto support other interfaces or purposes other than interface generation.Likewise, many different types of metadata can be received and processedin accordance with the present invention. Examples of metadata types,sources and associated uses, e.g., for a TV browser interface, avideo-on-demand (VOD) interface or a music browser, are shown in thetable of FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 depicts a functional architecture of metadata brokeringtechnology according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.Therein, a capture function receives metadata from multiple metadataproviders, each supplying only a limited subset of the metadata whichcan be used to create a desired user interface. It will be appreciatedthat the metadata suppliers listed on the left-hand side of FIG. 4 arepurely exemplary and that other metadata suppliers can be used inconjunction with the present invention. Since these metadata supplierssupply metadata using different languages and formats, exemplaryembodiments of the present invention provide an interface which convertsthe received metadata into a consistent form, e.g., Extensible MarkupLanguage (XML) at block 402, and then stores the converted metadata intothe global metadata repository. In addition to language conversion ofthe raw metadata from the various sources, exemplary processingaccording to the present invention may also including remapping of themetadata as shown by blocks 404 and 406. For example, the exemplaryAmazon metadata source can be connected to via their WebServices API(AWS), as shown by block 404. Showtime supplies data in an XML formatbased on the Cablelabs 1.1 spec, which format is different than theAmazon Web Services format, as such, is mapped differently into aconsistent format by block 406 prior to storage in the repository 400.In still other cases, e.g., if the processing requirements forconversion are too high, metadata can be loaded directly into therepository 400 without any conversion or mapping, as shown by block 408.Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other forms of conversionand mapping can be used depending upon the metadata source(s) used asinputs to the system.

Systems and methods according to exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention can also employ one or more rule-based engines that operate onthe data that resides in the repository 400. These operations include,for example, filtering 410, validation 412, augmentation 414 and screencomposition 416. The system post-processes the data after capture tofilter out extraneous information. The filtering process evaluates thereceived metadata fields for relevancy with respect to the userinterface screens to be generated. For example, if a received metadatafield is never referenced by any of the screen rules used to compose auser interface screen, then that field can be filtered out and removedfrom the repository 400. If the user interface consisted solely of theexemplary screens shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, for example, and the capturefunction received a metadata field which provided information about aproducer associated with the movie Apollo 13, then that metadata fieldcan be deleted from the repository 400 by filtering function 410 sinceproducer information is not used in these exemplary user interfacescreens. The validation process 412 ensures the accuracy of receivedmetadata by correcting inconsistencies using multiple sources and customheuristics to catch and correct errors. The validation process 412 cancorrect, for example, spelling, typographical mistakes, punctuation, andcontent inaccuracies in the received metadata. In ambiguous cases, thevalidation process can mark the questionable metadata field for humanintervention and resolution. If an information element does not exist,then a rule is executed that governs missing information. This couldinvolve an automated fix or flagging a human operator for intervention.

Various specific techniques can be used to perform validation of thereceived metadata depending upon, e.g., the type of error to becorrected and the information element under review. For example, numericdata fields can be validated for the range of permitted values. Missingmetadata information elements can also be detected at this stage of theprocessing. If, for example, a DVD cover art image is missing from thereceived metadata for a particular media item, then the system couldrequest a copy of the missing image from another repository (not shown).Typographical errors in, e.g., an actor's name, can be corrected asfollows. First, the information element in the metadata associated withthe actor's name can be separated into sub-fields e.g., last name andfirst name for actors' name fields. Then, a closeness fit can begenerated with information which is already stored in the repository400. If the received metadata name information is sufficiently close toa name which is stored in the repository then it can be automaticallycorrected. Alternatively, if the information is not already stored inthe database, the received metadata can be stored in the repository 400with a default confidence level. The confidence level can then beupdated when subsequent matches are attempted during the validation ofadditional metadata. The confidence level can, for example, be based ona majority vote if the metadata associated with the same media item thatis received from different metadata sources varies.

After filtering and validation, the system can run rules to augment themetadata with additional content and to synthesize new metadata asgenerally indicated by process block 414. Metadata augmentation is theprocess of synthesizing new information that is not present in theindividual metadata feeds as well as modifying metadata captured fromthe various sources. Augmented metadata can, for example, be based oninformation from any or all of the data feeds, from other collectedinformation such as usage metadata, or on information obtained fromexternal sources. Examples of metadata augmentation include popularityand awards indications, similarity links between movies, and links tobooks and soundtracks from a movie. Augmented metadata associated withsong popularity can, for example, be based on tracking the songs playedby the system and creating rankings, while augmented metadata associatedwith similar movies can involve creating a crosslink between conceptsthat are otherwise not related. This crosslink can be based on a scoringprocess that would examine the number of common attributes, e.g. actors,directors, writers, subject topics, awards won, etc. The augmentationprocess 414 can be accomplished by building a set of inference rulesthat operate on a type of concept. After information related to thatconcept is brought in as part of the metadata capture process, theseinferences rules run across the metadata repository and create new dataand crosslinks dealing with that concept.

Metadata synthesis according to exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention further includes the linking of disparate metadata receivedfrom the various metadata sources. An example of metadata linkingaccording to exemplary embodiments of the present invention is thecreation of bi-directional links between movies and directors, actors,writers, etc. Such semantic links are useful for seamless navigationalcapabilities in client devices. Some examples are provided below,wherein the arrow refers to a link developed by the system from themetadata supplied by one or several metadata sources.

1. Friends (TV show)->Jennifer Aniston (actress)->Goodbye Girl (movie)2. Skin (TV show)->Jerry Bruckheimer (producer)->Top Gun (movie)

3. A Beautiful Mind (Academy Award 2002)->Gladiator (Academy Award 2001)

One significant difference between one of the types of links created bythe metadata augmentation process 414 according to the present inventionand a conventional hyperlink is that these metadata links are restrictedby both semantics and validity. Typically, a user interface screen isautomatically generated and links are restricted to match a givensemantic relevance (e.g., actors' names, award type, etc.). In addition,a particular crosslink may refer to a synthesized piece of metadatarather than a single piece of metadata received from a metadata source.For example, metadata associated with an actor's biography can begenerated from multiple sources. In this case, the item being linked maynot be an individual biography available from one of the metadatasuppliers, but rather a synthesized one.

Yet another type of metadata which can be generated as a result ofmetadata augmentation is usage metadata. Usage metadata includesmetadata associated with viewing habits and show ratings that enable thesystem to synthesize custom screens based on user behavior which can becollected via function 418. This information can be collected at theclient side of the system and returned to a distribution or mastermetadata server as will be described below. Usage metadata can also manyother types of data, e.g., advertisement statistics including ad viewingtime, click-throughs, and response times. The system reports summarystatistics on consumer usage of the various applications being run bythe client devices. Raw usage information can include, for example, thefollowing tuple (FROM, TO, ACTION, DURATION). Therein, FROM and TO canindicate the screen/element IDs, while ACTION can refer to either“select” or “move” actions performed by a user on a user interfacescreen. DURATION indicates the length of time in seconds that the userlingers on a particular interface screen. Since the capture of usagestatistics is processing intensive, the system can employ filters tomaintain the information at a manageable level. Examples of thesefilters are listed below.

1. Report usage information only for user interface screen transitionsabove a minimum duration threshold.

2. Save only “select” actions and not “move” actions as reportable usageinformation.

3. Capture only ad-relevant screens as usage information.

4. Summarize screen information into a 24-hour histogram of screentransitions.

Along with synthesizing new metadata, the system can also automate theadjustment of existing metadata as part of the augmentation process 414.Some of the metadata associated with content is relatively static suchas title, year released, cast, etc. However, other metadata elements aremore dynamic. As examples, the system can maintain instance metadata forentertainment content including price, availability, usage restrictions,and copy restrictions among others. Not only does the system allow thesemetadata elements to be automatically updated, but the manner in whichthe metadata is updated can be performed using customizable rules. Someexamples of rules which can be used to modify metadata received from oneor more of the metadata sources in FIG. 4 are provided below.

1. A movie's price can be different on Tuesdays vs. Fridays.

2. A movie's price is calculated differently based on the day of theweek and how many movies the customer has ordered in the past week.

3. The system allows the user to download and copy a song for free ifthey meet purchase thresholds for a given week.

These examples are purely illustrative as any customizable rules can beapplied to metadata content adjustment. It should be further noted thatall of the metadata processing steps described herein can be performedin any order and can be performed prior to, or after, storage in arepository.

In order to better understand metadata processing according to exemplaryembodiments of the present invention, consider the exemplary flowdiagram of FIG. 5. Therein, two sets of metadata 502 and 504 arereceived from two different metadata sources. The two sets of metadata502 and 504 relate to the same media selection item (the movie“Seabiscuit”), but have some different information elements (e.g.,metadata set 502 contains a related book information element andmetadata set 504 contains a runtime information element). In thisexample, the received metadata is first processed by filtering function410, resulting in the modified metadata sets 506 and 508, respectively.In this example, the filtering function 410 operates to remove theinformation element to the related book from received metadata set 502since that information element is not used in a user interface screen.The metadata set 508 is identical to the received metadata set 504 sincethe filtering rules applied to the received metadata set 504 indicatethat all of the received metadata information elements have relevance.

Next, a mapping function is performed to merge the filtered metadatasets 506 and 508 into a unified metadata set 510 that is, in thisexample, consistent with other, similar metadata sets regardless of themetadata sources' individual formats and contents. In this example, themapping function results in the “starring” information elementreflecting an aggregation of the information received from the twometadata sources. Two separate description elements are added to reflectthe source of the descriptive information.

The validation function 412 is then run on the mapped metadata set 510.This function determines that, for this illustrative example, the coverart image for the metadata set 510 is missing. Thus, an image isretrieved from a predetermined repository, e.g., located at a defaultweb site, to fill in the missing metadata information element togenerate a new metadata set 512. Lastly, in metadata set 514, an exampleof the augmentation function 414 is shown wherein the system identifiessimilar movies and inserts links to those movies as shown in FIG. 5.

After the received metadata is processed using some or all of theaforedescribed processing functions, it can then be used to generatescreens, e.g., those illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, to enable userinterfaces on client devices. Referring again to FIG. 4, the screencomposition process 416 can also be implemented as a rule-enginefunction where the system creates custom screen elements and layout.This can include an automated screen build process whereby commonnavigational scenes are pre-computed and cached for quick distribution.This technique enables scaling the system to large numbers of clientdevices. While not all screens are typically pre-built, the system canserve a substantial majority of the subscriber base with these automatedscreens. However, exemplary systems and methods according to exemplaryembodiments of the present invention also support more complex screenelements and layout. To generate such screens, rules can operate on allinformation elements in the global metadata repository 400. Thisincludes domain-level metadata, service provider preferences, customerpreferences/demographics/behavior, etc. These information elements canbe combined and processed by the rule engine to provide custom screensfor end user consumption. Typically, the system determines what datashould be displayed on the screen and then adjusts the layoutaccordingly, an example of which will be described below with respect toFIGS. 6(a) and 6(b).

The determination of which screen data elements to use for a particularuser interface screen can be automated using customizable templates.Exemplary templates for a user interface that enables movie itemselections are “New Releases”, “Box Office Hits” and “Academy AwardWinners” templates which provide media selection items as the titlessuggest, but many more templates can be created. Automatic screencomposition is important as it facilitates the scaling of the service tolarge numbers of client devices. This is accomplished through having anumber of templates which illustrate the type of information andlinkages that are important. However, exemplary metadata processingsystems according to the present invention provide for more than juststatic generic templates. The rule system enables the determination ofscreen elements through rules that operate on the universe of metadatain the global database. Some examples include the following.

1. The system provide can provide crosslinks to shopping items based onan entertainment content selected by a user, which crosslinks aregenerated based on rules. For example, the system can providescrosslinks that enables a user to purchase goods that were shown on theprogram “Sex and the City”.

2. Rules can specify that “women's clothing” hyperlinks are provided ona portion of a user interface screen for certain demographics or“electronics products” hyperlinks, in the same screen area, for otherdemographics.

3. The system can return search queries that are biased towards userpreferences, demographics, or behavior. For example, if the systemdetermines that the user likes to watch John Travolta movies, then asearch on “cowboy” could return an identifier for the movie “UrbanCowboy” over an identifier for the movie “Cowboy Up”.

4. The system can return search queries that are biased towards serviceprovider preferences. Soon to expire movies are returned in response tosearch results over new releases.

Along with the screen elements, the screen layout is also customizable.Thus, the screen templates are not limited to static versions but ratherinclude dynamic templates that involve a series of rules. The rulesdescribe, for example, what to do when the text field for the actors'names is too small to hold the relevant content from the processedmetadata, the movie description field is too small to hold the relevantcontent or the cover art for the show is missing. Different rules mayexist for different screen types, but an exemplary algorithm for screenlayout is as follows. First, the availability of the images and textrequired to build the screen is verified. A rule can be provided whichspecifies the actions to take when a desired image or text is notavailable. The following are some possibilities for such rules: (1)leave the associated screen field blank, (2) insert a replacement objectinto the associated screen field, (3) insert a placeholder into theassociated screen field, (4) remove the item from the screen, or (5)expand another region to fill in the area with the missing information.For example, if an advertisement image is unavailable, the system caninsert a replacement image. If an actor or actress publicity photo doesnot exist, a male or female placeholder silhouette can be inserted intothe associated screen region. The algorithm proceeds to check the sizeof the images and text fields to make sure they fit appropriately intheir designated screen regions. Again, rules can be used governappropriate actions when mismatches are identified. For example, theserules may indicate (1) expand the item, (2) shrink the item, (3) expandor shrink an adjacent region, or (4) make a replacement. Again, thedecisions are based on customizable rules. Some other layout examplesare as follows:

1. Display Julia Roberts first in the actor list since the user tends towatch her movies.

2. Display soon to expire movies more prominently.

As will be apparent from the foregoing discussion, exemplary embodimentsof the present invention provide techniques for screen composition whichuse processed metadata in a flexible and effective manner such that boththe information content and the layout are customizable and dynamicallygenerated through a series of rules. In order to better understand theforegoing screen composition techniques in accordance with the presentinvention, an example will now be described with respect to FIGS. 6(a)and 6(b). Referring first to FIG. 6(a), when a screen is requested froma client device, a layout 600 can be generated by the system. Thisrequest can be made by, for example, selecting one of the media itemsdisplayed in a more general user interface screen, e.g., as shown inFIG. 1, using a handheld pointing device. Rules associated with, e.g.,this particular client device and/or this particular user can beemployed to select and/or place the screen elements shown in the figure,e.g., an image field 602, a title field, 604, a movie info field 606, abuy music button 608, a description field 610 and a cast field 612. Forexample, the buy music button 608 may be inserted into the layout 600 byvirtue of a rule which examines this particular user's preferences,determines that this user likes music, inserts the button 608 and sizesthe other screen elements accordingly.

Once the layout 600 is determined, it can be populated using metadatastored in the repository 400 or in a local, cached version of therepository as will be described below. FIG. 6(b) shows an example ofpopulating a screen using processed metadata according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, referring back to metadataprocessed in the example of FIG. 5 for the movie “Seabiscuit”. In thisexample, the screen request was received from a user who was operatingan interface that provided media selection of items provided by an HBOvideo-on-demand service provider and, accordingly, the populated screen620 is generated using the description data provided from an HBOmetadata source.

Returning again to FIG. 4, in addition to capturing and processingmetadata from a plurality of metadata sources, techniques and systemsaccording to the present invention also distribute the processedmetadata to various client devices. Distribution of processed metadatacan be based on queries from the various clients and, therefore, thequery interfaces 420-424 may vary dependent on the system context and/orthe clients' capabilities. According to exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, the system can communicate metadata information toclients using a schema-independent protocol. This feature enables thesoftware code for client devices to be very generic since the clientdoes not need to know the source nor schema of the information beingrequested. For example, the client can process HBO movie metadata andMovielink movie metadata in the same way.

A schema-independent interface 420-424 is based on the type ofinformation stored rather than being specific to the allowable set offields that are stored, based on the storage schema. In aschema-independent interface, the information as to what types ofinformation are stored would be explicitly stored in the system, but anynew information can be stored in the database without having to recodethe application. For example, if metadata brokering systems andtechniques according to the present invention are extended to enablestoring information about automobiles, it will not be necessary torecode a server to be able to store information pertaining to the gasmileage for cars, or information pertaining to car accessories.Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide for three primarytypes of metadata content to be stored in the metadata repository 400,e.g., (1) facts about metadata concepts, (2) crosslinks between metadataconcepts and (3) media related to the metadata concepts, e.g., such asaudio, video and images. Retrievals of fields from the repository 400are then based on which of these three categories the field contains,not on the specific field. This feature enables, among other things, fordynamic concepts and fields to be added to the system withoutmodification of the underlying core software.

Distribution of processed metadata may also involve different physicaldistribution nodes, an example of which is provided as FIG. 7. Therein,a master metadata server 700 is responsible for interfacing with themetadata suppliers, implementing the data capture function describedabove using a capture engine 702, and maintaining the repository, e.g.,a Global XML database 703. It should be noted that the examples usedherein referring to XML databases as repositories for metadata arepurely exemplary and that any type of storage facility or database canbe used in place thereof. Metadata processing, e.g., includingfiltering, validation and augmentation, is performed by processing unit704 as described above. Distribution servers 710, 712 and 714 areresponsible for the screen composition and distribution functionsdescribed above in this exemplary embodiment of the present invention.This provides for multiple distribution servers each having their ownlocal cached version of the database and each responsible forcommunicating with their respective client device set to enabledifferent types of client devices to be serviced in different ways,e.g., in accordance with their capabilities. Examples of client deviceshaving different capabilities such that it may be desirable to associatethem with different distribution servers include Media Center PCs 716,Next-Generation Media Servers 718, and Set-top Boxes (STBs) 720.

FIG. 7 also shows that the master database server 700 and distributionservers 710, 712 and 714 are periodically synchronized, e.g., daily.When the master metadata database 703 changes, it notifies itsassociated set of distribution servers 710, 712 and 714. The updatedrecords are transported to the distribution servers and applied to thecached databases. The distribution servers are aware of the records thathave changed and update the pre-built screens that are affected. Thesystem can utilize double-buffering on the database such that updatesoccur in parallel and without slowing down retrieval requests. Screensand templates are built by the system for common content that isavailable for all users. However, content may also be available locallyif the user has local disk storage as found, for example, on personalvideo recorders (PVRs). According to exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, when browsing and selecting content from aninterface, the location of the content should be transparent to theuser. To facilitate this capability, the system stores basic metadatafor all content recorded in the home. When the client device searchesfor content, it examines its local metadata store (if any) first. Thenthe client requests the search result screen from the system, whilenotifying the system of any local content that satisfied the searchcriteria. The system responds with enough additional content to createthe full screen and supplies any additional, processed metadatanecessary for the local content. Note that in all exemplary embodimentsdescribed herein, caching at any stage of metadata distribution ispurely optional depending upon the particular implementation. As analternative, all metadata could be stored at the master metadata server700 without any caching downstream.

An exemplary architecture for performing these functions is seen in FIG.8. Therein, the distribution server 714 is shown in more detail andincludes a local (cached) XML database 802 that is updated periodicallyby the master metadata server 700, a screen builder 804 which implementsscreen composition as, for example, described above, an image andmetadata distributor which forwards metadata to clients from the localdatabase 802 in response to requests and a browser protocol interfacewhich translates requests and responses based on the various browsersemployed by the client devices. Requests for specific screens from aclient 812 to the distribution server 714 can be passed through a clientsession manager 808 to the screen builder 804.

The client devices 812, 814 and 816 have increasing capability levelswhich enable them to operate differently with respect to interfacegeneration according to the present invention. Specifically, but purelyas an example, client devices 812-816 may vary with respect to: (1) thescreen size and resolution of the display devices through which theyinteract with a user, 2) network connectivity, 3) CPU power and 4)storage capabilities. For example, a client's display capabilities couldrange from a 52″ plasma, high-definition TV set, to a 20″ standard TVset, to a cell phone's display screen. Similarly, the networkconnectivity between the distribution server 714 and its associatedclient devices could range from slow to fast, and would govern, forexample, how much information to send down and when to send thatinformation. Stronger client CPUs may download more raw information andprocess it locally, while weaker CPUs would rely on the server 714 to domore processing. Likewise, if the client device 812-816 has largeravailable storage, then more data could be downloaded prior to use andstored locally, speeding up local requests.

These aspects of varying types of client devices are exemplified in thedifferent client devices shown in FIG. 8. Therein, client devices 812represent lower-end clients (e.g., DCT-2000 STBs) having an overlaygenerator 818 and a screen requester 820 capability. The overlaygenerator 818 operates to place graphics on top of an MPEG video streamreceived from the distribution server 714 to generate a user interfaceat the client 812, while the screen requester 820 requests new screensfrom the distribution server 714 by sending requests referencing screennumbers to the distribution server 714 via a network communicationsinterface 822. Since the clients 812 may have limited local processingpower and/or storage capabilities, most or all of the interface screenswhich are displayed on the display devices (not shown) associated withthe clients 812 can be generated using explicit data (e.g., detailedscreen descriptions) returned by the distribution server 714 in responseto the requests. Moderately powerful client devices 814 (e.g., DCT-5100STBs) may be able to support both localized processing of the zoomablebrowser 824 (described, e.g., in the above-incorporated by referencepatent application) as well as a localized cache 826 of metadata and/orscreen descriptions usable to generate specific screens locally. Insteadof requesting entire interface screens in response to user activity ontheir associated user interfaces and display devices, clients 814 mayrequest specific images which are not stored locally as well as scalinginformation in order to generate their interface screens, as shown.Lastly, even more powerful clients 816 (e.g., DCT-6208 STBs) may includea metadata prefetcher 828 which anticipates a user's possibleinteractions with the interface and prefetches the metadata which wouldbe used to generate screens that are candidates for next-selection.Other combinations of signaling and capability utilization of differentclients are also within the scope of the present invention and thoseshown in FIG. 8 are purely exemplary.

Another feature of exemplary embodiments of the present invention, isthe handling of rights associated with the metadata being processed bythe system. Typically the content of interest (e.g., a movie) hasdigital rights management details associated with it including, forexample, a purchase window, a viewing window and/or copy restrictions.However, the metadata itself often has its own set of rights. Systemsand methods according to the present invention also manage thesemetadata rights. Metadata rights include, but are not limited to, thefollowing types of attributes: consideration, extent and types of users.Consideration relates to the compensation or agreements that need to bein place for metadata access. Extent refers to “how long”, “how manytimes”, or “under which circumstances”. User type enables rights to beapplied to different segments of the user population.

The system keeps track of metadata rights management through a set ofattributes in a table, which table can be part of the repository 400 orassociated therewith, having, for example, the following elements: (1)Licensor, (2) Metadata Identifier, (3) Licensing Window, (4) SecurityLevel, (5) Usage restriction rules, (6) Reporting rules, (5) SubscriberView Limit, (6) Subscriber View Period, and (7) Maximum Viewing Period.This list indicates that these elements are not just a set ofattributes, but also encompass a set of rules that are evaluated by arules engine. The system manages and applies these rights at variouspoints in the metadata handling process. As an example of this,referring to the processed metadata from FIG. 5, would be for the HBOsourced metadata to be authorized for use only by HBO customers. When anon-HBO customer requests a detailed view of a media selection item inher or his user interface associated with the movie “Seabiscuit”, themetadata server 700, distribution server 714 or client device 812-816which is responsible for supplying the metadata content would use themovie description that was supplied by the Comcast metadata source, aswell as only the actors listed from that source. Any information thatcame from both sources would be displayable, but no information that wasonly supplied by HBO would be available for use.

Note that in this exemplary embodiment of the present invention, thatthe system logically treats the rights and the corresponding metadata asan atomic unit. The metadata cannot be rendered, transported, ortransformed without access to its associated rights. This feature isfacilitated by encrypting the metadata using symmetric key technology.Access to the key is governed through its rights definition. When thelicensing window for the metadata expires, the metadata is purged fromall databases (global, distribution, local). Communication between thenetwork elements is not required, as each element handles this throughthe use of local timer controls. Distribution servers re-build thecommon, cached screens if they were affected by the expiry.

In addition to metadata rights management, as will be appreciated bythose skilled in the art, media content may have authorizations foraccess in the form of, e.g., parental controls preferences. Parentalcontrols include content characteristics, user preferences and contentaccess codes. According to exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention, the metadata (in addition to the underlying content itself)may also have its own set of authorizations based on parental controls.The system keeps track of metadata authorizations including, forexample, acceptable ratings of the content for metadata display,disallowed keywords, and user preferences for display handling. Metadataparental controls would have the following elements: (1) ratings notacceptable for display, (2) disallowed keywords, (3) metadata componentsto that are prohibited for display (e.g. images, descriptions, allfields), and (4) preferences for handling displays that includeprohibited metadata. For example, a user may set up metadata parentalcontrols to prohibit movie descriptions for R rated movies and toprohibit the entire metadata record for NC-17 rated movies. When aninterface screen containing a list of movies containing both an R and anNC-17 movie is requested, the R movie would appear in the list, but theNC-17 movie wouldn't show up at all. Then when a detailed view of the Rmovie is requested, the resultant screen would include the movie'stitle, release year, genre and cast, but the description would not bepresent in response to metadata controls according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

An exemplary process for handling metadata that is prohibited accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is the following:

1. If the user's preference for what is prohibited is a set ofindividual fields, then replace each prohibited data element in afield-specific way.

2. If the prohibited data is text, then replace it with blanks, or witha user-supplied alternative string, if available.

3. If the prohibited data is an image, then replace it with atransparent or background image, or an alternative image selected by theuser.

4. If the prohibited data is audio or video content (e.g. a preview)then replace the triggering screen element with an alternative image.

5. If the user's preference is to prohibit the entire metadata record,then examine the type of display that references the metadata record.

6. If the type of display structurally requires the metadata record tobe shown, for example a time-based TV grid, then replace the recordreference with a non-linked text.

7. If the type of display is a list of metadata records, such as adisplay listing available content, then remove the reference entirely asif it did not exist.

When the parental control access code has been successfully supplied,then all metadata will be allowed.

In addition to metadata rights and controls, systems and methodsaccording to the present invention can also keep track of many differenttypes of preferences including user, programmer, operator, andadvertiser preferences. User preferences include some elements that arehandled through client-server communication and others that are handledby the client autonomously. Those that require server involvementinclude PIN processing for access control, shows of interest alerts, andreporting options for billing. Generic show filters and setup options(universal remote settings, interface skins, etc.) are managed by theclient. Programmer preferences always require server involvement. Suchpreferences include user interface skins (layout, branding), linkagesbetween content, reporting options, rule-based guide generation (basedon user types/demographics), and cross platform control (internet, TV).Operator preferences are a subset of programmer preferences with theexception that cross-platform control does not make sense. Advertiserpreferences include reporting options (aggregated by the server and rawinformation from the client), dynamic rule-based ad insertion, and aninteractive toolkit.

To summarize exemplary techniques for metadata processing according toembodiments of the present invention, reference is now made to the flowdiagram of FIG. 9. Therein, one or more metadata sources 900 supplymetadata to be processed by one or more of the metadata master server700, distribution servers 710-714 and/or client devices 812-816 in themanners described above. These functions include filtering to, e.g.,remove irrelevant metadata, at step 902, validating to, e.g., ensurecorrectness of the relevant metadata, at step 904, and mapping to, e.g.,provide consistency among stored metadata sets, at step 906, as part ofa general metadata capture process according to exemplary embodiments ofthe present invention. The resulting metadata can be stored in a datarepository 908 and augmented (step 910) as described above. Theprocessed metadata can then be used for various purposes to present theprocessed metadata to various users. Among other things, it can be usedto generate user interface screens (step 912) in response to screenrequests 914 from client devices. The processed metadata can also beused to populate previously generated screens (step 914), whichpopulation process is optionally contingent upon filtering associatedwith, e.g., rights management and/or parental controls, as shown by step916. The resulting screens may then be presented to the user as shown bystep 918. It should be understood that the present invention separatelyincludes aspects of each of the individual steps illustrated in FIG. 9as well as two or more of the steps taken together. Moreover, the stepsillustrated in FIG. 9 and described elsewhere in this specification maybe performed in any desired order.

Systems and methods for processing metadata according to exemplaryembodiments of the present invention can be performed by processorsexecuting sequences of instructions contained in a memory device (notshown). Such instructions may be read into the memory device from othercomputer-readable mediums such as secondary data storage device(s).Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in the memorydevice causes the processor to operate, for example, as described above.In alternative embodiments, hard-wire circuitry may be used in place ofor in combination with software instructions to implement the presentinvention.

The above-described exemplary embodiments are intended to beillustrative in all respects, rather than restrictive, of the presentinvention. Thus the present invention is capable of many variations indetailed implementation that can be derived from the descriptioncontained herein by a person skilled in the art. All such variations andmodifications are considered to be within the scope and spirit of thepresent invention as defined by the following claims. No element, act,or instruction used in the description of the present application shouldbe construed as critical or essential to the invention unless explicitlydescribed as such. Also, as used herein, the article “a” is intended toinclude one or more items.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A system useful in a communications provideroffering commercial opportunities, the system comprising: (a) computerdevice containing data, for each of a plurality of metadata pages,defining a plurality of visually perceptible elements, which visuallyperceptible elements correspond to the plurality of metadata pages; (i)wherein each of the metadata pages includes metadata from at least oneof a plurality of metadata suppliers; (ii) wherein each of the metadatapages is used to generate and display at least one active linkassociated with a commerce object associated with a buying opportunityof a selected one of a plurality of merchants; (iii) wherein theselected merchant, the communications provider, and the metadatasupplier are each third parties with respect to one other; (b) acomputer server associated with the communications provider, whichcomputer server includes the computer device and programmed to: (i)receive from a client device of a user a signal indicating activation ofone of the links displayed by one of the metadata pages; (ii)automatically identify as a source of the supplied metadata on which thelink has been activated; (iii) in response to identification of thesource of the supplied metadata, automatically retrieve data; (iv) usingthe retrieved data, automatically generate and transmit to the clientdevice and an associated display another metadata page that displays:(A) information associated with the commerce object associated with thelink that has been activated, and (B) another plurality of visuallyperceptible elements visually corresponding to the retrieved data. 22.The system of claim 21, wherein the system further comprises: aprocessor which links together metadata based upon semantic relevancetherebetween.
 23. The system of claim 21, wherein the computer devicestores metadata and validates the metadata to correct errors.
 24. Thesystem of claim 21, wherein the at least one active link associated witha commerce object associated with a buying opportunity of a selected oneof a plurality of merchants is a link to purchase the commercial objectshown on a television program.
 25. The system of claim 21, whereinmetadata is supplementary information describing particular content ofinterest associated with media items available for selection by a user,including at least one of content title, content description, contentgenre, content cast, cover art, content price, content availability,links to other similar content, associated advertising content andinformation associated with purchasing commercial objects.
 26. Thesystem of claim 21, wherein the associated display is customizable. 27.A method of an intermediate metadata provider serving pages offeringcommercial opportunities, the method comprising: (a) automatically at aserver of the provider, in response to activation, by a user of adevice, of a link displayed by one of a plurality of first displayedpages, recognizing as a source page of one of the plurality of firstdisplayed pages on which the link has been activated; (i) wherein eachof the first displayed pages includes metadata associated with one of aplurality of metadata suppliers; (ii) wherein each of the firstdisplayed pages displays at least one active link associated with acommerce object associated with a buying opportunity of a selected oneof a plurality of merchants; (iii) wherein the selected merchant, theintermediate metadata provider and the originator of some portion of themetadata associated with first displayed page are each third partieswith respect to one another; (b) automatically retrieving, from astorage of the server, pre-stored metadata associated the source page;and then (c) automatically with the server generating and transmittingto the device a second displayed page that includes: (i) informationassociated with the commerce object associated with the link that hasbeen activated.
 28. The method of claim 27, wherein the commerce objectassociated with a buying opportunity of a selected one of a plurality ofmerchants is associated with an object shown on a television program.29. The method of claim 27, wherein metadata is linked together basedupon semantic relevance therebetween.
 30. The method of claim 27,wherein each of the first displayed pages includes metadata associatedwith at least two or more of the plurality of metadata suppliers. 31.The method of claim 27, further comprising: storing, by the intermediatemetadata provider, received metadata from one or more originators ofmetadata and information associated with commercial opportunities whichare associated with the received metadata.
 32. The method of claim 27,wherein metadata is supplementary information describing particularcontent of interest associated with media items available for selectionby a user, including at least one of content title, content description,content genre, content cast, cover art, content price, contentavailability, links to other similar content, associated advertisingcontent and information associated with purchasing commercial objects.33. A system useful in receiving, processing, storing, distributing anddisplaying metadata offering commercial opportunities, the systemcomprising: (a) a metadata server and a database containing metadata,received from each of a plurality of first metadata sources, defining aplurality of visually perceptible elements, which visually perceptibleelements are provided by the plurality of first metadata sources; (i)wherein each of the first metadata sources belongs to one of a pluralityof metadata sources; (ii) wherein the metadata server and the databasefilters and links together different metadata from the first metadatasources which are associated with each other and generating a screentemplate based on the linked together different metadata, wherein thescreen template includes at least one active link associated with acommerce object associated with a buying opportunity of a selected oneof a plurality of merchants; (iii) wherein the selected merchant, theoriginators of the received metadata and the provider of the screentemplate are third parties with respect to one another; (b) adistribution server, which distribution server is communicativelycoupled to the metadata server and the database, and programmed to: (i)receive from a client device of a user a signal indicating activation ofone of the links displayed from the screen template; (ii) communicateinformation associated with the received signal indicating activation ofone of the links displayed from the screen template to the metadataserver and the database, wherein the metadata server and the databaseidentify the source metadata; (iii) in response to the communicatedinformation, receive from the metadata server and the database storedinformation associated with activation of one of the links displayedfrom the screen template in the form of a new screen template; and (iv)using the new screen template received, transmit to the client devicethe new screen template that displays: (A) information associated with acommerce object associated with the link that has been activated, and(B) another plurality of visually perceptible elements corresponding tothe second screen template.
 34. The system of claim 33, wherein themetadata is linked together based upon semantic relevance therebetween.35. The system of claim 33, wherein the database stores metadata and thesystem validates the metadata to correct errors.
 36. The system of claim33, wherein the at least one active link associated with the commerceobject is a link to purchase the commercial object shown on a televisionprogram.
 37. The system of claim 33, wherein metadata is supplementaryinformation describing particular content of interest associated withmedia items available for selection by a user, including at least one ofcontent title, content description, content genre, content cast, coverart, content price, content availability, links to other similarcontent, associated advertising content and information associated withpurchasing commercial objects.
 38. The system of claim 33, wherein thescreen template is customizable.